Crypto.com<\/a>\u00a0Arena when Nic Batum missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer, with the Lakers\u2019 maintaining a 3-point lead, their winning margin.<\/p>\nDon\u010di\u0107 led with the Lakers with 38 points, 11 assists and six rebounds. Reaves added an efficient 29 points and six rebounds in his first game back in the starting lineup since December, while LeBron James had a 13-point, 11-assist double-double.<\/p>\n
What it means<\/p>\n
The Lakers improved to 34-21, including 16-10 at home.<\/p>\n
The Clippers (27-29) missed out on a chance to improve to .500 for the first time since early November.<\/p>\n
Turning point: Kawhi Leonard\u2019s exit<\/p>\n
Leonard was ruled out because of left ankle soreness late in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
The Lakers took a 112-109 lead after Don\u010di\u0107 made a relocation 3, leading to Clippers coach Ty Lue calling a timeout with 5:11 left.<\/p>\n
![\"Kawhi](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/f5d214d93aa2a16bc3e6965cb74a365e.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Kawhi Leonard, making a move on Luke Kennard, scored 31 points before exiting with left ankle soreness in the Clippers\u2019 loss to the Lakers. Getty Images<\/p>\n
But when the game resumed, Lue didn\u2019t have his best player back on the floor, evaporating a significant chunk of the Clippers\u2019 offensive juice.<\/p>\n
The Lakers led for the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
Leonard led the Clippers with 31 points, five assists and four rebounds.<\/p>\n
Benn Mathurin, coming off scoring a career-high-tying 38 points in Thursday\u2019s home win over the Nuggets, scored 26 off the bench but fouled out with 1:49 remaining.<\/p>\n
MVP: Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/p>\n
An unconventional pick of Marcus Smart, who made a pair of clutch 3s and a midrange jumper, was almost made.<\/p>\n
But the way Don\u010di\u0107 started the game \u2014 17 points and four assists in the first quarter \u2014 and closed with 12 points in the fourth sealed his case.<\/p>\n
![\"Luka](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/12dd8e41b96d49007ec2f4816d35e07a.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Luka Don\u010di\u0107, who scored 38 points, goes up for a layup during the Lakers\u2019 win over the Clippers. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s 22 points in the first half marked his league-leading 28th half this season with 20 or more points.<\/p>\n
Stat of the game: 54.8%<\/p>\n
That was the Lakers\u2019 3-point percentage against the Clippers, their second-highest percentage from deep in a game this season.<\/p>\n
Don\u010di\u0107 led the Lakers with 8-of-14 shooting on 3s, with Reaves shooting 4 of 5 from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n
Their season-high 3-point percentage remains 55.9%, when they made 19 of 34 3s in the Jan. 13 win over the Hawks.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
The Lakers will host the Celtics on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in the nationally-broadcast matchup on NBC\/Peacock.<\/p>\n
The team will unveil the Pat Riley statue ahead of the game against the Lakers\u2019 longtime rivals.<\/p>\n
The Clippers also will remain in Southern California, hosting the Magic on Sunday evening at Intuit Dome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows LeBron James, who scored 13 points and grabbed 11…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3789],"tags":[1013,7,46,559,1586,677,529,4034,192,4032,185,251,135,4033,4031,368,1171,326,1436,6,302,2152],"class_list":{"0":"post-615816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-celtics","11":"tag-clippers","12":"tag-deandre-ayton","13":"tag-hawks","14":"tag-kawhi-leonard","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-clippers","17":"tag-laclippers","18":"tag-lebron-james","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","21":"tag-losangeles","22":"tag-losangelesclippers","23":"tag-luka-doncic","24":"tag-luke-kennard","25":"tag-marcus-smart","26":"tag-mathurin","27":"tag-nba","28":"tag-nuggets","29":"tag-the-lakers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116108842202784821","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4e69527a58a534c962b6f554a1973815.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"LeBron](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/5044ecdec29ff3dee046db7d8ee97bb8.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n